WebCentral have released a public statement at their website that states;
Note: the $500,000 Drop.com.au paid for Netfleet was just for WebCentral’s 50% holding.
It’s very interesting to note that WebCentral state;
“Drop Catching’ is the purchasing of domains if they are not renewed by the domain owner and then on-selling it to someone else or back to the original owner.”
They go on to claim, “It is expected that this practice will be redundant in the near future once (auDA), the domain governing body makes much needed changes to the industry.”
We wonder if auDA realises that drop-catching will soon be made redundant?
Hey auDA, care to elaborate?
Is this deal why auDA only announced it issued a breech notice a few days ago but was reported to be issued several weeks ago?
I thought auDA was meant to promote competition in the market. Most registrars are owned by one or two overseas companies.
Are there any Australian owned registrars left?
I don’t even have any domains still with Netfleet yet I have had 5 emails today from them announcing the deal. Is that classed as spam?
How is Trellian going to handle their Netfleet backorders Consumers have already paid for?
So Trellian now have a 100% drop catching monopoly?
How will Drop.com.au and Netfleet.com.au both owned by Trellian compete with itself for the names when a bacjkorder already exists at Trellians Netfleet.com.au for a name?
Will Drop.com.au still advertise it and auction it against the companies Netfleet.com.au backorders which had ben paid for?
Will Drop catch the name because it might have higher bids?.. Meaning the paid for backorder was a Scam and waste of money?
Trellian takes on the responsibilities & backorders of Netfleet and this is a major issue of concern for consumer protections.
https://www.netfleet.com.au/backorders
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We only accept one backorder per domain name – so if someone has placed a backorder on your chosen domain name already, you will not be able to order it. ” Netfleet.com.au / NetAlliance a Trellian Pty Ltd company https://www.netfleet.com.au/about )
Maybe auDA is going to run expired auctions in the future? Not impossible to imagine.
This is good news.
Web central’s comments are just PR.
Drop catching will continue.
Netfleet will finally get cleaned up under its new 100% owners.
Reading Trellian’s statement, and having spoken with David Warmuz and Anthony Peake, it seems as if Netfleet will be solely used for the aftermarket, and Drop for expired auctions. My understanding is that any NF backorders will be refunded pro rata.
Shame about lack of competition, but that’s not Trellian’s fault. David saw an opportunity, and pursued it. Anyone else could have done the same.
There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from creating another drop-catcher and/or aftermarket. The cost to become a registrar is cheap – you just have to have the right people to guide you. I forecast that we will see a competitor (or two) next year!
So, its likely auDA will become the Registry Operator and the Drop catcher.